WESTMINISTER, MD. – A fourth quarter comeback falls short as the Ursinus College women's basketball team fell to Washington College 59-53 on Saturday afternoon from Penny J. Fall Gym.
 

With the loss, Ursinus falls to 12-9 on the season and 8-8 in Centennial Conference action, meanwhile the Shorewomen improved to 10-10 overall and 7-8 in conference play.

 
Senior Sarah DiLello shined for the Bears scoring a career-high 20 points behind finishing 6-of-12 from three-point range and adding six rebounds. Classmate Natalie Mehl added 16 points while junior Chinwe Irondi tallied 11 points and eight rebounds for the Bears.

 
The Shorewomen opened with back-to-back baskets, before Ursinus regained their first lead of the contest at the 7:41-mark behind a three-pointer from DiLello. After a 4-0 run from the Shorewomen, the Bears tied the score at seven apiece with a layup from Irondi with 6:11 remaining in the opening stanza. The Bears were held scoreless for the next three minutes of play, while the Shorewomen stormed out to a 14-7 advantage with 3:14 remaining. The Bears responded with a 9-2 run to tie the game at 16 apiece, behind a trio of three-pointers from Mehl and classmate Alison Lisanti. Washington College closed out the opening stanza on a 5-2 run and held a 21-18 lead at the first break. The Shorewomen carried the momentum into the second quarter jumping out to a 27-21 lead as a three-pointer from DiLello kept the Bears deficit at six. Washington College used an 11-3 run to close out the first half and extended their advantage to 38-24 with two quarters to play.

 
The Bears slowly started to battle back during the opening two minutes of the third quarter as Mehl and DiLello combined for the first five points to bring the Bears deficit to nine. Washington College responded with a 5-1 run before a three-pointer from DiLello made the score 43-33 at the 7:07-mark. After two minutes of scoreless action, Ursinus scored six of the next eight points to bring their deficit too six with 3:05 remaining in the period. The Bears defense shutout the Shorewomen over the remainder of the period, while Mehl connected on two free throws to make the score 45-41 at the end of the third stanza. The Bears would bring their deficit to as low as two points in the quarter, but ran out of time to complete the comeback and eventually fell 59-53.  
 

Ursinus shot 28.1% (18-of-64) from the field, 33.3% (9-of-27) from three-point range, and just 50% (8-of-16) at the free-throw line. Meanwhile, Washington College shot 41.8% (23-of-55) from the floor, 50% (3-of-6) from deep, and 52.6% (10-of-19) at the charity stripe. The Shorewomen outrebounded Ursinus 48-33 and held a 28-14 advantage in points within the paint.
 
 
The Bears return to action on Tuesday, February 6^th as they host Swarthmore College for a 6 p.m. start, before hosting Bryn Mawr College on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.